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editor's note

Tanya Chaitanya (Editor Femina India)

For every doubting Thomas who tells you women can’t scale mountains, wrestle in the ring, endure physical hardship, your comeback should be a simple hashtag:#StandStrong.
There’s no bigger retaliation than success, they say. So show your calibre to these detractors or anybody who believes that we, as women, lack the potential to be physically as fit as men by being just that. Not to say that it will be an easy process.
The conditioning that we are not at par physically starts early. From the time we are offered a hand to bring down the cookie jar to when we are told not to lift too heavy a weight; when the sports selectors in schools bypass promising girl children or when the male friends refuse to count us in in any serious hiking plans—that feeling of being physically less is ingrained right from the beginning.
So how is it that we witness sportswomen like Mary Kom packing a punch in the arena or a badminton champ like PV Sindhu physically pushing herself to the limits? Or the fact that celebs like Jacqueline Fernandez, Taapsee Pannu, Katrina Kaif swear by their fitness routine and are known to train for longer hours than their male counterparts?
Then again look beyond these superwomen. Look around you. There are regular women storming into male bastions, physically-challenging professions and pursuits, and coming out triumphant. This new-found confidence comes with taking care of yourself, being cognizant of the fact that our body needs to be given TLC, from the right diet and nutrition to exercise and care to help us stand strong.
This is when I raise a toast: Here’s to strong women. May we know them, may we be them, may we raise them!

How to lose love handles

Have you been waiting for the longest time to slither into your favourite little black dress but have been unable to do so because of the unsightly rolls of fat on your abdomen? Well, you are not the only one to be struggling with love handles or muffin tops or tyres as they are called. Abdominal fat is very hard to get rid of and takes regular exercise and a controlled diet to shed. But the good news, however, is that it is not impossible. Here we give you all the tips and tricks on how to lose love handles so that you will soon be strutting around in the slinkiest dress and the tightest jeans without worrying about wobbly fat deposits cramping your style!

Ill-effects of love handles

According to experts, abdominal fat or love handles or visceral fat have a range of downsides for your health ranging from liver problems heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and metabolic syndrome which makes you more prone to getting these diseases. A large amount of visceral fat also makes you sluggish and low on energy. And incidentally, love handles don’t just happen to fat or obese people, even skinny people could have abdominal fat deposits that are just as harmful for their health.

Abdominal fat is considered the most harmful kind of fat on your body, which is why many doctors are more concerned about your waist size than the number you hit on the weighing scale. The best way to get rid of belly fat is by a balanced regimen that includes exercise and diet because there is no way that you can target only one portion of your body to tone or reduce. So, follow our advice and learn how to reduce love handles.

Start eating healthy

If you are still wondering how to lose love handles, start by eating right. Make sure that your meals include plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins. If you eat enough from all the food groups every day, you will get all the nutrients you need and you will also start to lose weight because you will be eating proper portion sizes of nutritious food and not filling your tummy with empty calories. Do ensure however that you include plenty of variety in you meals.

Try to limit your intake to lean protein, fruits and vegetables because studies have shown that this combination helps you lose fat on your midriff while giving you the nutrients that you need. In fact, keeping it low carb and high protein can really work wonders in melting away those stubborn belly rolls.

Do note, however, that in your effort to eat healthy, you do not fall prey to fad diets that do more harm than good. While the may show some results in the short run, you can gain back more weight than you stop after you stop it and start eating normally. Diet food also tend to be highly processed and that can ruin your health further.

Cut down on carbs and sweets

If you are serious about losing those love handles, make sure that you stay far, far away from sugary treats and refined carbs in general. The fact is, that in order to lose abdominal fat, you must cut down on your calorie intake and the easiest way to do that is by cutting out the harmful, empty calories from your diet. For a start, calculate how many calories you consume in a day by taking help from an online calorie counter. Then aim to cut down about 500-750 calories form your diet each day. If you combine this with plenty of exercise, you are guaranteed to lose weight. Do be careful, however, that you don’t eat less than 1200 calories or you may fall ill and suffer from nutrient deficiencies in the long-term.

Focus on limiting carbohydrates and eating more of protein, fruits and vegetables. A study of obese women showed that those who followed a diet of 30% protein, 40% carbs, and 30% fat for eight weeks lost more fat—including love handles—than women who ate 16% protein, 55% carbs, and 26% fat. Protein is important for weight loss because it protects you against insulin resistance. Our bodies produce more insulin as we age as muscle and fat cells don’t respond to it properly and this cause more fat to be stored on our stomach area.

Cut out refined carbs and starchy vegetables and grains. Don’t have more than two servings of carbs daily. If cutting out your favourite foods seems like a big sacrifice, remember that there is no way that you can magically make fat vanish from only one part of your body. You have to lose weight all over your body. Keep a food journal to know how much and what you are eating every day.

Stay away from junk food and snacks

Take a long hard look at your diet and see what it comprises of. Does most of your food come in the form of junk foods and snacks? Are you prone to eating quick nibbles when hunger pangs strike instead of balanced meals that keep you full for longer? If that is the case, you need to change your diet pronto because highly processed foods or junk foods tend to be higher in calories. By cutting out these harmful foods from your diet, you will be able to lose weight faster. Make life easier for yourself by keeping your house, work area and kitchen free of unhealthy food. When you start stocking up on healthy food, you will find that you will start eating healthier.

A 2014 Swedish study found that saturated fat tend to make us store more visceral fat than polyunsaturated ones. When study subjects ate 750 more calories daily for seven weeks, either in the form of palm oil (saturated) or sunflower oil (polyunsaturated), those who ate saturated fat (palm oil) gained more visceral fat while those who had polyunsaturated sunflower oil gained more muscle mass and less body fat.

Do avoid eating out as much as possible because restaurant food tends to be rich in trans fats, sugar and unsaturated fats that go straight to your abdomen. Use a cooking spray at home and use oils like olive oil that are less harmful. If you cannot avoid eating out, avoid salad dressings, sauce, and carb-rich foods and opt for salads and grilled protein instead.

When it comes to snacks, keep small portions of healthy bites like carrots, celery, cucumber, apples, and yogurt with you so that you are not tempted to nibble on something unhealthy. Remember that you should train yourself to snack only 4-6 hours after your last meal. Late night snacking is particularly bad so discipline yourself by setting a last meal curfew.

Drink enough water

Losing weight is not just about eating right but drinking right. You need to stay hydrated throughout the day for your general health and to help your weight loss efforts. Drinking plenty of water keeps you feeling full and stops you from bingeing on unhealthy food. Don’t forget to drink at least 8 glasses of water daily. Tip: drink a glass of water before your meal so that your stomach fills up and you don’t end up over indulging.

Start doing some cardio exercises

Just cutting down on your diet will not have any effect on your love handles if you don’t supplement it with exercise. Make it a point to work in some cardio into your routine every day as it is a great fat burner. You could try jogging, walking uphill, hiking, biking, dancing, and kickboxing…just ensure that you clock in at least half an hour of high intensity cardiovascular exercise 5 times a week. 13. If you are up to it, try a High-intensity interval training (HIIT) workout where you will have to work out in short bursts of intense aerobic exercise, followed by a recovery period. Studies have shown that HIIt is a very effective way of losing those love handles.

However, if you are intimidated by the thought of suddenly upping your cardio exercise regimen, start slow by doing other activities like swimming, working out on the elliptical machine or walking that can also give you many of the same cardio benefits. And if your busy schedule prevents you from working out more, try and up your general activity levels by walking more and using the car less, avoiding sitting for long hours and buying a pedometer or fitness tracker to track your activity levels. It will help remind you to get up and take a walk when you have been sitting for too long.

Crunches and planks

There are certain specific exercises that have a great effect on reducing love handles. For instance bicycle crunches tone your tummy and love handles. Lie on your back with your hands behind your head. Raise your legs one foot above the ground and bend your left knee, bringing it towards your head. Twist and make your right elbow meet your left knee. Do the same for the other side.

Side planks tone your core and strengthen your obliques. Get into the side plank position with your elbow supporting you, and your other arm on your hips. Keep your body straight and hold for 30-60 seconds. Repeat on the other side. Whole body toning exercises like yoga and Pilates are also great for toning up your entire body.

Don’t forget to include some weight training in your workout because it will help you gain strength and burn more calories at rest by raising your metabolism. A combination of resistance training with aerobic exercise works wonders in reducing belly fat.

If you find it hard to stick to your exercise schedule, get yourself an exercise buddy to keep each other motivated. This has been proved by studies that have shown that working out with a friend can actually make you lose more weight than when you work out alone.

Keep track

Losing weight can be an arduous journey and there will be times when you feel demotivated and disinterested in completing the journey. However, keeping regular track of your journey and measuring milestones, however small, can help you along. Make the tape measure your friend and track your measurements to see how many inches you have lost from your hips or stomach. Losing inches is also significant progress as muscle weighs more than fat. Do measure yourself before you start on your weight loss journey.

Do remember to weight yourself regularly as well. Step on the measuring scale at least a couple of times a week in the morning before breakfast after shedding your clothe. Keeping track regularly will help you know what’s working and what’s not and then you can tweak your workout accordingly.

Stress less

This might come as a surprise to you but high stress levels can go straight to your waist line. Not only does a lot of stress play havoc with your mental health, it can harm your physical health as well. Stress causes the release of Cortisol also known as the “stress hormone,” that has been related to weight again in the abdominal area. Try meditation or yoga to bring your stress levels down

Try to get plenty of sleep as a lack of sleep also leads to the release of cortisol that causes weight gain. Sleep-deprived people gain weight faster and find it harder to keep it off. A study showed that those who slept less than five hours a night had more abdominal fat than those who slept for seven to eight hours said a 2010 Wake Forest University study. Less sleep also leads to diabetes and obesity so make it a point to get seven to eight uninterrupted hours of sleep per night.

However, do make sure that you don’t try to compensate for lost sleep by crashing out or oversleeping on weekends. A recent Brigham Young University study showed that women who go to bed and wake up at the same time every night have lower levels of body fat. Irregular sleep habits make your internal clock to go crazy and secrete fat-friendly hormones like cortisol.